In the political satire "Wag the Dog," a U.S. president is caught in a sex scandal 14 days before an election, so his adviser and Hollywood manufacture a war that deceives the American people and he ultimately wins the election. This movie has become a pop culture icon and synonymous with government propaganda and manipulation.
AU alumnus and the film's director, Barry Levinson, will speak to audiences after the a showing of "Wag the Dog" at the School of Communication's Comedy Film Festival at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center.
For "Wag the Dog," Levinson wanted to show how the media is manipulated and how politicians use it for personal gain. He said he wanted to figure out how the media was used and abused, which has become part of the political landscape and is done on a regular basis sometimes subtly and sometimes in a more obvious fashion.
"Politics has become more devious ... more Hollywood," he said. "It understands entertainment values and it's corrupted, by large corporations by such a large degree."
Perhaps because of the fact that his movies are put out by the corporations he scorns, Levinson said that few political movies enjoy great success. In fact, they are more difficult to make, sell and distribute now and hardly do well in the "scheme of things."
"Humor and politics come in two parts, but very often politics itself creates its own humor," Levinson said. "It's harder to make fun of it now because it's so ludicrous on its own."
Levinson says that we have come to a real pivotal point in the nation's history as we come closer to the next election. He says that today's politics has so many mis-statements, lies and slight of hand at work.
"Where will we go, if we continue to go the way we are going," Levinson asks. "To satirize where we are, you have to go a long way to get past reality."
Levinson says that AU was influential on his career, in particular one teacher had impacted both his life and the direction he took in television. Although his post-AU life was hard for a few years, he eventually became successful by writing for television shows including "The Carol Burnett Show."
Eventually the award-winning director-producer-screenwriter would direct and produce "Rain Man," "Good Morning, Vietnam" and his semi-autobiographical trilogy "The Diner," "Tin Men" and the "Avalon."
"Each film you do, you find a reason and you make it," said Levinson. "It could be a drama, a comedy or some obscurity piece of work," Levinson said.
Levinson says he doesn't know if this country can withstand being Iraq for another 10 to 20 years. He's worried about the nation's economy and other issues at home.
"Looking at this, maybe this is this generation's Vietnam," Levinson said. "In Vietnam, we had spent so much time there, almost ten years. The question is how long will we have to be in Iraq to correct that road we took?"
He also adds that he knows little about today's youth and whether they are activists or apathetic.
"There's so much nonsense on a daily basis and with so little positive that come from it," he said. "I'm not sure which direction students have been going."
Despite his professed ignorance about students, Levinson's greatest inspiration for making films is his fascination with people, which are played out through most of his work especially his fondness for his Baltimore films.
In another political movie, "Good Morning, Vietnam," what intrigued him initially to the project were "the soldiers, the jungle, fighting."
"You never saw the Vietnamese in Saigon," he said, "going to work, to school, home, to the movies, laughing ... that sense of understanding them as real people. And then America's in the city and the shit hits the fan. And that's what became 'Good Morning, Vietnam.'"
He will be speaking with audiences after the screening of "Wag the Dog" which starts at 7:30 p.m. along with Washington film critic Desson Thomson.
